Categories of professional equipment

Note : This page has been translated into English from French by a machine translation tool

If in most cases, in addition to its technical characteristics which will be chosen according to its use, computer equipment can be adapted to both personal and professional use, this is not always the case. Indeed, certain types of tools such as those that we will detail here are tools that are rather used in a professional context either because they do not correspond to the uses that a private individual can have of them or because they are part of a much more complex system and cannot function without it. So, if you are a professional and you are looking to equip yourself or if you want to renew part of your company’s equipment, you will find here a presentation of some tools that you should be interested in.

The workstation

A workstation is really just a desktop computer that looks the same visually but is nevertheless designed for a specific professional use and requires powerful resources. A workstation is focused on reliability, designed to run 24/7 and often capable of operating a large number of screens. They are most of the time reserved for organizations with a specific mission or for companies requiring hardware they can rely on permanently for a use that can range from architectural modeling to 3D modeling or even more rarely to the storage of data that must be accessible at all times. We will retain that hardware configurations are generally the most powerful on this type of computer.

Fat clients

A fat client is little more than a traditional computer. It is usually referred to as a client in the context of setting up a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (see our article Virtual Desktop Infrastructure for more information), i.e. virtual desktops that are actually stored on a server and run through it. The client is primarily responsible for the display and all or part of the processing operations requiring resources are performed by the server. As a result, the thick client is not the most suitable for this type of use because it does not allow to limit energy expenses, reduce hardware expenses and local software installations, which are the main advantages of VDI. They generally require maintenance and their connectivity being superior, they are also less secure. In order to adapt the physical access hardware to VDI, you can choose thin clients. This can address some or all of the disadvantages of the thick clients we have just discussed.

Thin clients

Thin clients provide access to virtual desktops. They improve security, simplify installation, and since they require few resources, they can also be redeployed as old PCs. The computing power available on the server side, including the power of graphics processing, is an important consideration when choosing a thin client. If you need large resources, the more resources your server will provide, the more your thin client can afford to be limited in terms of resources. They are typically equipped with a lightweight Windows operating system such as Windows Embedded Standard, a proprietary dedicated system such as Wyse ThinOS, or a Linux system. In addition, they allow centralized administration, which means that settings can be grouped across multiple thin clients, eliminating the need for individual deployments. This saves a lot of time. But there is an even more economical solution than the thin client, the zero client.

Zero clients

The zero client is, like fat and thin clients, capable of accessing a virtual machine, but unlike thin clients, it does not store data and does not require any configuration. Simply put, a zero client has no operating system. It is even more economical both financially and energetically. However, it can sometimes still be proprietary and require maintenance. In this case, only the server hosting the virtual machines processes the information. The zero client only provides the interface between the server and the screen that serves as a display.

All-in-one thin clients

As for hardware thin clients, they come in the same forms as those found in traditional computers (see our article on The different types of computer tools for more information). While the traditional versions resemble cases that are similar to CPUs in appearance, although smaller in size, we find all-in-one versions among thin clients. Indeed, as we have vaguely mentioned, all the versions of the devices presented above require screens to display the image. So, as with an all-in-one computer, in an all-in-one thin client, it is a matter of integrating all the components into the screen in order to have only one device. It then allows the display and integrates for its operation all the components usually found in a computer such as RAM and a small storage space for software. However, the hardware configuration here is much less powerful than in the case of a traditional computer.

Mobile thin clients

If we continue with the physical comparison between thin clients and computers that can also be referred to as thick clients in the context of setting up a VDI infrastructure, mobile thin clients are designed in the same way as laptops. They are equipped with a microprocessor, random access memory and a small storage space to store an operating system and the software needed to connect to the virtual machine and to make various settings. They are finally equipped with a screen for display and a keyboard for input.

The management and administration of a fleet of zero and thin clients is carried out via management software for these terminals. Wyse Management Suite is one of the most widely used. If you would like to learn more about this software suite, you can read our article on Wyse Management Suite.